Prisoner
by Sola-and-Sama
Summary: This contains more serious topics such as child abuse, neglect, and other darker things: The first eighteen years of Elizabeth's life were spent as a lab rat in a dangerous science facility. She was allowed to wander the land, but never leave the property. But when Leo Valdez rescues her, everything changes. She finds her brother, friends, and a world straight from her dreams.
1. Escape

**HI! This escape is based off of Tessa's in "The Clockwork Angel" which I don't own. I also don't ocn Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus.**

A girl with tangled brown hair falling to her waist wandered aimlessly around the large fenced-in yard. Her large green eyes shifted nervously back and forth, as if she was afraid that she was being watched. She chewed her bottom lip nervously as she settled with her back against the wall. She ran her hand along the wall beside her, searching for a groove in the smooth exterior. Her fingers reached their destination, and she pressed down. A section of the wall folded away, and she ducked through, hoping no one would notice her sudden movement. She wasn't so lucky.

"Hey you!"

She inhaled sharply, shifting from walk to run, thoughts of freedom filling her with determination.

"Get back here!"

She forced herself to run even faster, her surroundings turning into a blur. A hand caught her hood, preventing her from moving further. She reached up, trying to unzip her jacket, but a hand caught her own. She pulled hard against whoever was holding her, but it didn't seem to faze them.

"Let me go," she demanded.

"No such luck."

She was lifted into the air by her hood, and dragged back in to face the leader. He was tall and muscular, with a military uniform. He had black hair and red eyes.

"Why would you ever try to leave us? Don't we take good care of you?"

"I need to find my home," she spat, twisting in air, trying to get the guard to release her hood.

"Oh Elizabeth," he shook his head sadly. "This _is_ your home."

"No, it's not. And I intend to find where it truly is."

"Elizabeth, must I use force?"

"No, must _I_ use force? Because I will get out of here."

She smacked the hand holding her hood hard, catching them off guard. She was dropped to the floor, and she landed in a crouch . She got to her feet, charging forward. She found herself approaching the leader, meeting his face with her fist before jumping out the window behind him and landing on her feet in the courtyard. She stumbled a little before continuing forward. Once again, a hand caught hers, and she was dragged back.

"I almost made it," she muttered as she was dragged back again.

* * *

Every night, her bedroom was locked from the outside. It was like a prison. She didn't even have a good book to occupy her time. It was torture.

The creaking of a floorboard right outside the door jerked her away from her thoughts. She reached out desperately for something she could use as for defense. Her fingers curled around nothing but air.

"Oh well. Just my fists, I guess," she mumbled.

The door creaked open, and she moved forward, swinging a fist.

"Woah! Calm down!"

She looked up. It wasn't one of the guards. It was a boy, who looked around sixteen or seventeen. Her age. He had crazy brown hair sticking up and curling out in random places. He looked like an escaping Latino Santa elf straight from the workshop. He looked slightly freaked out that a girl he just met had swung at him.

"Who are you," she demanded.

"My name is Leo Valdez, and I'm getting you out of here."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Maybe because I knocked out all of the guards down the hall?"

"That's-"

"Impossible? Take a look."

"I'd rather not."

"Whatever. Let's go before they wake up!"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the hall, running down a dark corridor.

"What are you-"

"Ssh! You don't _want_ to get caught, do you?"

He pulled her even faster. She kept up easily. She heard the sound of clanking footsteps, and Leo pulled her down a dark hallway with pipes exposed above them, dripping down. She could barely see in the dim lighting.

"Come on! Don't stop now," he whispered.

His hand caught on fire and she squeaked. A pipe burst above them, dousing Leo.

"That's not a coincidence. We need to get out of here and contact camp."

"Camp?"

"A safe place."

"How far," she asked curiously.

"If I call my buddy Nico, we won't have to do much walking. But we will need something to create mist."

"Don't you have a phone or something?"

"Bad for demi - what we are."

"Demi?"

"Demigods. One of your parents was mortal. The other was a god. I can't tell if you're Greek or Roman, though."

"Totally in the dark here. Literally. Sorry about, um, whatever I just did."

"Don't worry about it. Could you get it off though?"

"I can try."

She imagined the water floating off of his body. The water pressure from the pipe only increased.

"Concentrate!"

She tried again. The water parted, and floated off of Leo.

"Wow!"

She jumped back in surprise and the water fell on him again.

"Please focus," he prompted.

She closed her eyes, imagining the water floating through the air. Leo murmured a 'wow' and she opened her eyes. The water was floating down the hall in little tiny balls. It looked like the night sky. Before she lost control again, she grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him out from under the pipe. Just seconds after she did, the drops of water fell to the floor and water pumped from the pipe again.

* * *

 **Time skip: Now at camp. I'm too lazy to write the rest of the escape.**

* * *

"So this is camp?"

"Yeah. Welcome to camp Half-Blood!"

"Thanks?"

"Sure thing. Anyway, most half-bloods come in wondering who their godly parent is, but I know for a fact yours is Poseidon. Come on, I'll introduce you to your big brother."

"What?"

"We have one other resident child of Poseidon. His name is Percy, and he's a year older than you. Hence, 'big brother,'" Leo said slowly, as if he was talking to a two year old.

She punched him in the arm. "I'm not stupid! You don't have to talk to me like that!"

"Ow! Sorry, sorry!"

"Are you done?"

She spun on her heels to see a tall boy with black hair and green eyes (exactly like hers) standing behind them.

"Percy," Leo smiled at the boy. "It's about time you met-uh," he turned to her and whispered loudly, "what's your name?"

"Liz."

"Any last name?"

"You saw where I grew up," she mumbled. "Do you _think_ they would tell me there?"

"Fair enough. Percy, this is your little half-sister Liz."

"Half sister?"

"She's even stronger than you," Leo exclaimed.

"Oh no, I'm not," she said quickly. "I I'm really not strong at all."

"Really? Doubt it," Leo said encouragingly. "Bet Percy couldn't do what you did back there when the pipe burst. It was amazing!"

He went on to describe the tiny floating drops of water in detail, exaggerating most of it. She cut him off by taking part of the lake below, dragging it through the air with her mind, and dumping it on him.

"Hey!"

"You _were_ talking an awful lot..." Percy speculated.

"Percy! I thought we were buddies," Leo faked tears.

Percy sighed. "Oh, how things have changed."

"Is there anyone here who _isn't_ sarcastic?"

"Not really. Not even you," Leo said.

"Oh, you're soooooo right."

"That was sarcasm," Percy pointed out.

"Ugh! You're so-"

"Handsome? Amazing? Positively radiant," Percy suggested.

"Annoying!"

"Perseus Jackson," a female voice said sternly. "Where have you been? And who's this?"

A girl with thick blond hair and stormy gray eyes stood behind them.

 **AN: What is it with people and coming up behind other people?**

"Oh! Annabeth! This is my sister Liz!"

"Sister?"

"Yeah! Leo just brought her to camp," he said nervously.

"Leo?"

"It's true! You should have seen the way she-"

"Don't! say that," Liz ordered.

She tugged nervously at her hood. She didn't want to hear about it again.

"How can I be sure that she really is a child of Poseidon?"

There was a burst of blue light, and Leo pointed just above her head.

"Is that enough?"

She looked up to see a glowing blue trident floating just above her head.

"Um, what is that?"

"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming. Poseidon has just proven that you are his child."

"Um, what does that mean?"

"It means that you're in danger. The more powerful your godly parent is, the more strongly you smell to monsters. A child of one of the big three is in the most danger."

"Oh. Um..."

"Sorry. I got a little carried away there. My names Annabeth Chase. My mom is Athena."

"I'm pretty sure you know who my dad is," she said, shaking Annabeth's outstretched hand.

* * *

 **I don't know what I'm going to do with this story! All I know is that She'll e- NO SPOILERS!**

 **Anyway, after I deleted 'Nightmare,' I felt like I needed something to replace it. I felt bad about leaving you guys like that. So, now you have this. I actually have a few twists and turns planned out for the story. Chapter two will be that night in her cabin. In the beginning.**

 **So, I'll probably get lost with this story millions of times, and I'll need your guidance. I don't know how long this will take to write. Maybe a year, maybe a month. Who knows? No one. Okay. Rachel might know, because-um-oracle. Later!**

 **-Sama**


	2. Not-So-Little Sister

_A woman with brown hair, in what looked like a hospital gown, screamed._

 _"Ma'am," someone dressed like a doctor said fiercely, "this will continue until the children are born, it's as simple as that."_

 _"Please no! They can't be born here. Poseidon, help me," she screamed._

 _"Mrs. Jackson is delirious."_

 _"No! He'll come! They," she lowered her voice, "Perseus and Elizabeth won't be born here!"_

 _The scene changed._

 _The woman's labor was over, and she held one baby wrapped in a blue blanked while the "doctor" was wrapping another in pink. Suddenly, shadows filled the room, and a man materialized within them._

 _"Hades," the woman breathed._

 _"Sally, I'm getting you out of here."_

 _He gripped the woman's hand, and the shadows wrapped around them._

 _"No," she yelled. "What about Elizabeth?"_

 _But it was too late._

* * *

Liz woke up drenched in sweat. She pushed back the blankets on her bed, sitting up and staring at the statue of her father. It was tall, with a wispy beard and neatly combed hair. He was carved in a Greek toga and wierdly done sandals.

She took in a shaky breath and looked over to where Percy slept. He was also sitting up, stretching hugely.

"Hey, you okay," he asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"You were talking in your sleep, mumbling things like 'Sally' and 'Perseus.' That's me and my mom."

"Oh, um, it's just this dream I've had recently."

"What is it?"

"It doesn't mean anything."

"Demigod dreams always mean something. Tell me," he insisted.

She gave in, describing the dream in full detail. Percy blanched.

"How old are you?"

"Why?"

"Tell me."

"Eighteen."

"When's your birthday?"

"Is this really relivant-"

"When's your birthday?"

"August eighteenth."

"Oh Gods."

"What?"

"You don't see it, do you?"

"See what?"

"We're not just siblings. We're twins!"

"Tha-"

"Think about it! The names 'Perseus' and 'Elizabeth,'-our names-coming from the mouth of a woman who sounds exactly like my mom, right down to the name, in a demigod dream, which always means something!"

"Wow," she breathed.

"Lizzy, you're not just my half sister anymore. You know, all families of children of the big three have situations like this. Zeus has two kids, brother and sister on both sides, and Hades has Nico di Angelo, and used to have his older sister Bianca, before she died. We're the only twins though. Twin children of the big three, at least."

"Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"What time is it?"

"Um, seven thirty, I think. That means we have about half an hour until cabin inspection. Let's clean up."

To her surprise, they cleaned up nicely. They finished just in time. All of the beds were made, the dirty walls were polished (seriously, what did Percy _do_ in there?), and the floor tiles sparkled.

"Wow," said a voice from the doorway.

Liz whirled around to see a girl with choppy chocolaty hair and eyes that couldn't be place in a single category standing just outside the cabin with a clipboard. The look on her face was pure shock.

"Percy, I didn't know you cleaned up so well?"

"Yeah. Hey Pipes?"

"Hmm?"

"This is Lizzy. Leo brought her to camp yesterday."

The girl gasped, as if she had just noticed Liz standing at Percy's side.

"Hi! My name's Piper. So, your dad is Poseidon?"

"Yeah."

"We've made another family connection also," Percy butted in.

"Really?"

"We're twins," Percy exclaimed, like I kid saying _it's Christmas!_

"Wow. Does anyone else know?"

"No. We just put the pieces together. It all started with this dream she had..."

Liz blanked out as Percy went into a full description of what had just taken place.

"Liiiiiiiiiiizyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"

"What," she asked, returning to reality.

"Am I really that boring," Percy fake-cried, wiping away imaginary tears.

Piper rolled her eyes.

"Is he always, um..." Liz whispered.

"That's just Percy. You'll get used to it eventually."

"Come on, I'm not that bad am I," Percy asked, pretending to be hurt.

"Gods, you're worse than Leo," Piper shielded her eyes, as if fake drama would blind her.

Liz laughed.

"I take offence! No one is worse than me," a voice piped up behind them.

"Speak of the devil," Piper muttered turning around. "Hey repair boy."

"What's up Beauty Queen?"

"I told you not to-never mind."

"So, Percy, how are you hitting it off with your little sis?"

"I'm not his little sister. Just because I'm shorter than him, doesn't mean I'm younger."

"Yeah," Percy added.

"They're twins," Piper squealed excitedly.

"Whoa, wasn't expecting that," Leo joked.

Piper shot him a glare.

"Whoa there," he said in a fake deep voice.

Piper slugged him in the arm.

"Oh good, I'm not the only one who resorts to that," Liz muttered.

Piper grinned at her. "Almost everyone does. Shockingly (pun intended), Jason can."

"Jason?"

"Piper's boooooooooooooooyfrieeeeeeeeeend," Leo said in a singsong voice.

"Shut _up!_ "

Piper slugged him in the arm again.

"Hey!"

"Sorry," Piper's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Come on Beauty Queen," Leo pleaded.

Piper sighed. "Whatever."

"Hey, aren't you still supposed to be inspecting cabins," Leo asked.

"Styx! I am! Later guys!"

Piper ran out the door again, carrying her clipboard in one hand and her pen in the other.

"Wait! What did we score," Percy yelled after her.

She didn't even turn to look his way. Percy sighed and turned back to Leo.

"So, what's up?"

"I realized that Liz probably hasn't seen some of the best stuff to do at camp. I was going to show her around a bit more."

"Okay," she said. "I'd like to see a bit more anyway."

"Okay. Come on."

Leo looped his arm through hers and she realized her mistake. Never go anywhere alone with Leo. Never.

* * *

 **Time Skip: On the hill!**

* * *

"That was...fun?"

"With the Supersized McShizzle, it always is. I'm surprised you think so, though."

"Why?"

"You're not exactly that fun. Super serious."

Liz gasped, falling backwards down the hill. She came to a stop at the bottom on her back with a hand over her heart.

"You've wounded me!"

Leo laughed. "Okay, maybe you're fun."

"Maybe," she asked, getting to her feet.

"Okay, fine. Absolutely."

"Absolutely what," she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, you're _absolutely_ fun. Happy?"

"More so."

She flopped back down on her back.

"Come on! You probably won't break something on the way down."

Leo started to walk down the hill.

Ah ah ah! Roll," she spread her arm exaggeratedly.

Leo sighed and lied down on the ground, rolling down.

"See? Don't even try to tell me that wasn't fun."

"Hey, that's the first time I've seen you without your hood."

She suddenly realized what she had forgotten.

"My jacket!"

"Relax. It's like, a bazillion degrees out here without it!"

"Leo, it's not even 90 degrees."

"Exaggerate!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Hey guys!"

Liz sat up and locked eyes with Piper.

"Hey."

Leo grinned at her. "Okat Beauty Queen, I take back everything I said. She's more crazy than me!"

"I seriously doubt that."

"How could you? Look where she got us? Rolling down the hill with a hand over her heart was pretty crazy. All because I said she wasn't fun!"

Piper glared at him. "Leo! You can't tell someone they're not fun!"

"Sorry Pipes!"

Piper rolled her eyes.

"You're lucky Jason isn't here, or I'd have him-"

"Have me what?"

A hand rested on Piper's shoulder and she jumped.

"Zap him," she proclaimed.

The boy, Jason, laughed.

"Ha ha ha, so funny," Leo said sarcastically.

"Whatever. Who's this," Jason noticed Liz with sudden interest.

"This is Elizabeth. She's Percy's long-lost twin!"

Piper squealed excitedly, and Jason smirked.

"Nice to mean you Elizabeth."

"Um, I would prefer Liz or Lizzy."

"Okay. Nice to meet you _Lizzy._ "

She laughed slightly. Jason smiled.

"Anyway, Chiron sent me to find you guys. Archery is starting."

"Oh! Right! Come on Lizzy! Let's get you started on work with a bow!

 **Hi guys! End of chapter! I'm thinking of writing this as one day for each chapter, but a lot is happening in chapter three. Also, I might start the rest of the chapters with dreams, just because. I have the next few chapters more or less planned out, so I guess I'd better get started on them now! Later!**

 **-Sama**


	3. Closing The Gap

"Please don't!"

A little girl with black hair and eyes shut tight pleaded with the man in front of her. He was holding a bloody whip in his right hand, and a shining knife in his left. The girl was covered in scratches and deep gashes. The man had a sick, evil smile on his face.

"You should have thought of the conciquesnces before you disobeyed me."

"No!"

The man raised his right hand, drawing back the whip.

"Please," she sobbed.

He brought down his hand.

* * *

Lizzy sat up, drenched in sweat. What she had seen had boiled her blood and filled her with a mix of negative emotions. She looked around her. She was in her cabin, with Percy snoring on the other side of the cabin. She pushed her blankets back, sliding her legs over the side of her bed and resting her feet on the cold tile floor.

She pushed herself to her feet, padding over to Percy and shaking him gently by the shoulder. He groaned and twitched slightly, but didn't awaken. Liz shook him harder, and he groggily shood her away. She sighed, poking his side and tickling him. He sat up with a snort, glaring.

"Stop it!"

"You wouldn't wake up otherwise! It's important!"

"Lizzy, it can wait until-"

"Cabin inspection," asked a voice from the doorway.

Percy nodded.

"Hey Piper."

"Hi Percy. "

"Elizabeth, how've you been?"

"Good. And I told you to call me Liz!"

"I'd actually prefer to call you Lizzy. Liz seems to serious for you. Doesn't really fit."

"I'm done fighting this," she said with a sigh, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Whatever. Anyway, there's something I need to tell you," Piper said.

"Huh?"

"Something I saw in katropis."

Percy blanched. "What did you see?"

Piper described the scene, with an adress and a girl with scarred hands and bloody arms gripping a barred window. She had black hair and eyes that Piper didn't catch the color of because they were closed. She looked deathly pale and super hungry. Her cheeks were sunken in and there were dark circles under her eyes. Lizzy sucked in a shaky breath, and Piper turned to her.

"What's wrong?"

"Sounds like what I saw in my dream! There was some man hurting her, and he had a whip and a knife in his hands! She asked him to stop, and he told her that she should have thought of the conciquesnces."

"That's bad. Really bad."

"Do you think she's a halfblood," Percy piped up.

"Maybe. It's possible that the man that you saw was a monster also," Piper put in.

"We have to go help her immediately!"

"Help who?"

"Leo! What are you doing here," Lizzy asked, becoming suddenly aware of how short her dressing gown was. Her face turned pink, and Piper smiled slightly.

"I thought I would stop by and say hello. Anyway, you didn't answer my question yet."

"Sorry Leo. Piper saw a girl that needed help in Katropis and Lizzy dreamed about her. We want to help her out because of how she's being treated."

"I'm in."

"What?"

"You don't expect me to not help, do you? I care about justice just as much as you do!"

"Okay fine. But no jokes."

"But-"

"Leo, this is serious. No jokes!"

"Fine!"

"Okay. Fine.

* * *

"You're telling me this is the place?" Leo whistled. "Real classy area, huh?"

"Leo, what did we say about joking?"

"Not a joke-"

"Sarcasm counts," Liz put in.

She tugged nervously on the tastles of her cat-ear hoodie, biting her lip and keeping her eyes on the ground. She didn't want to draw any attention to herself, incase anyone thought they were suspicious and alerted the authorities.

"Lizzy, you need to calm down," Leo whispered. "No one suspects anything yet!"

It was a simple thing to say, but her face suddenly became hot and slightly red. What's happening to me? She frowned slightly.

"You okay," Leo asked, grabbing her shoulders and turning her towards him.

"Y-yeah. I just-just don't know it I'm r-ready for this," she stuttered, her mind leaving her as his chocolatey eyes met her sea green ones.

She shook her head to rid herself of her crazy thoughts. There was no way she was in love with Leo. It was simply to farfetched.

"You've been staring for an aweful long time. Like what you see," Leo teased, grinning slyley at her. She made a face, sticking her tongue out at him and squinting.

Leo burst out laughing, and Piper slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Quiet! Even if we don't act suspicious, we still don't need everyone staring at us like we're crazy, which we just might be, in some cases," Piper scolded, glaring fiercly at Leo.

He pointed to Lizzy, still unable to speak due to the tan hand clamped tightly over his locked lips. Lizzy grinned at the sight of Leo struggling to pull his friend's hand away.

Piper gave her a knowing look that clearly said you like him, don't you? She shook her head quickly, and Piper gave a sarcastic 'uh-huh,' as she released Leo from her death grip. The boy gasped for air dramatically, glaring fiercly at Piper before directing his attention once again to the adress Piper had seen.

"Is ths what you saw in Katropis," he asked.

"Yeah. That window there is where she was staring out of, so she's being kept in there. Strange, though, why they put it close to where other people can hear. And what if she screams? People are sure to hear and call the police!

"It's just impractical! I mean really! This is horrible planning. I'm surprised he hasn't been found out already-"

"Beauty Queen, you're starting to sound like Annabeth," Leo warned.

Piper stuck her tongue out at him, and Lizzy giggled. Leo and Piper turned quickly to face her, shock on their faces. Percy was staring intently at their target and didn't notice.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You never giggle," Piper exclaimed.

"I didn't," she claimed.

Leo shook his head dramatically. "When will they ever learn?"

Lizzy glared at him. "Let's just go inside, okay?"

"Whatever," Leo pouted.

Lizzy tugged gently on Percy's sleeve.

"Come on Kelp Head. We're going in now."

"Who've you been talking to," he demanded.

"No one," she claimed, rolling her eyes. "Would you prefer I called you Prissy?"

"No way! I'm good with Kelp Head. Kelp Head is fine!"

Lizzy laughed lightly, muttering 'hopeless' under her breath as she started towards the house.

As they got closer, low sobs could be heard from the window Piper had seen her blade, though it was now boarded up, with only a crack here and there to let in light. Lizzy imagined having small spots you needed to stand in to be able to see anything. She shuddered.

Leo pushed the door open. It creaked, and everyone froze. After a few second that seemed to drag on for hours, there was no responce and the demigods slipped in one by one. They moved into the doorway of the room that Piper had seen in her vision. It looked like hell on earth, and not the underworld. It was revolting.

There was a dim lamp, flickering on and off. Sewage dripped from the pipes above, leaving little puddles on the ground for people to step on. The room was empty aside from shelves housing an assortment of weapons, ranging from whips to tiny blades. The revolting man from Lizzy's dream is holding a leather whip and a small knife, boath slick with blood. He is standing over a girl with long black hair. She's shaking. Her eyes are closed, and there are tear tracks streaked through the dirt on her cheeks. She's covered in bloody gashes, sobbing violently.

"Please, please," she whispers between gasps for air.

"You had your chance," the man tells her fiercly. In fact, you've had too many. No more! Die you worthless piece of filth!"

He raises his whip, bringing it down on the girls back again. He holds his knife up as well, as if he's about to rake it across her skin. Lizzy gags, signaling the others to make their moves.

Leo and Percy restrain the foul man while Piper and Lizzy move the girl out of harm's way. The man is clearly struggling, but the girls are able to move the girl to the other side of the large room carefully before the man breaks free. His whirls around, his knife digging into the flesh on Leo's arm. It's a long gash, and blood immediately comes oozing out. Lizzy screams, and the pipes above them all burst, the filthy water forming a growing orb around the young girl's torturer. Percy gived Leo some ambrosia, and his wound his healed, but the revolting sewage only begins to circulate at amazing speads, blowing Lizzy's hood back and lifting her hair up around her. Watery terdrils fly out, crasing into walls as the man is lifted higher into the air. One slamed into the boarded up window, breaking the wood and, combinded with the sewage, illuminating the room with an eary and unnatural pale green glow.

Leo ran to Lizzy's side, trying desperately to calm her down. At his touch, Lizzy falls to her knees and the water drops to the stone floor. The man is on hsi back, coughing up the vile fluid onto his shirt. Lizzy looked around her. Piper was giving the girl that they saved some ambrosia for her wounds, Percy was trying to form a block for the sewage, Leo was looking desperately at her, as if pleading with her to stay calm, and she was kneeling in water halfway up to her waist in her current position.

She pushed herself to her feet imediately and moving towards the girl, who was no longer sobbing but still violently shaking with her eyes shut tight.

"We're not here to hurt you," she whispered assuringly.

The girl opened her Onyx eyes slowly. Despite the ambrosia she had consumed, some bruises had yet to fade and still showed out on her deathly pale skin.

"We need to get out of here, okay?"

The girl pushed herself to her feet, and Lizzy took her hand, pulling her towards the exit.

"Percy, hold it for as long as you can!"

"I'll try!"

The girl halheartedly tried to pull away, but Lizzy's grip was firm. Only once the two were safely out of harms way did she release the girls hand. She hugged it to her chest protectively. Leo nd Piper came out next, followed by Percy. Once he was outside, Percy released the water, and it came spilling out, seeping under the now-shut door.

Lizzy examined the girl that they had saved more closely. She had black hair coated in dust and clotted with blood in certain places. Her black eyes were bloodshot, widened and focused on the faces staring back at her. Her skin looked a sickly grayish-whitish color, and she looked unnaturally thin. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her cheeks looked sunken in. Scars, though barely visible, could still be seen on her skin. She looks uncomfortable, and very scared. If she was healthier, she might look like a younger female Nico.

"What are you four doing here?"

She turned around to see the son of Hades himself standing behind them. The girl's eyes widen, and she speaks for the first time.

"I-I've seen you before."

"That's impossible." Nico's tone is cold.

"I know you! I remember! Nico di Angelo, how dare you!"

She moves forward and kicks him in his shin. He shows no signs of pain to the untrained eye, but even two days with Nico had taught her the skill of reading his emotions through eye expressions. She had hit a weak spot, and it had really hurt him.

The girl was clearly furious.

"What are you talking about?"

"You and Bianca and I, we were all adopted by the same man before you two ran away without me! I can't remember how many nights I spent in your or Bianca's arms after a bad beating or him pouring his alcohol in my eyes to watch me scream! He hurt you two also, but not as bad as me! And then you ran away without me, leaving me to face the amount of pain he would have inflicted on all of us in a monthly basis every day! He almost killed me because you forgot all about me!"

"Wait, Natalie?"

Nico reaches out to grags her hand, and she flinches back, closing her mouth tightly. Nico frowned, and Natalie's face flushed bright red.

"Kind of a habit. Sorry," she squeaked.

"What exactly did he do to you?"

"I don't really want to-" she stopped, and Nico nodded in understanding.

"Okay… would anyone like to enlighten the rest of us," Leo butted in.

Nico rolled his eyes and started his explanation.

"Okay, I'm not even going to go into the casino, but before we were shipped off to militay school, we went through a couple of foster families, Bianca and I. One of them was with this super abusive alcoholic guy, the one who lives here. He adopted Bianca and I at the same time as he adopted Natalie. He was nice until we first got back to his house, where he hit Alie for talking out of turn.

"Just try to imagine how horrified we were. He poured his alcohol over our heads and he would laugh as it dripped into our eyes and we started screaming. He sometimes did it so much in one day that we went temporarily blind. I don't know why, but Alie was always his main target, and-"

"Hey!"

"And there he is."

If it was possible, Nico went even paler. Natalie's eyes widened, and she hugged herself protectively.

"You didn't think you could get out this easily, did you?"

Natalie refused to speak. The man took a step towards her, and Nico moved in front of her, twisting his skull ring and holding the sword that it transformed into.

"Don't touch her," he growled.

"Why do you care?"

"I care, Edgar, because she's like a sister to me."

"Didn't stop you from leaving her behind," Edgar put in.

"Shut up," Nico and Natalie yelled together.

Natalie put her hands over her ears, shutting her eyes again. Nico narrowed his eyes, giving the man, Edgar, a look that would make any trained warrior wet themselves if it was aimed at them. Edgar didn't even squerm.

"You always were good at threats, but you never could follow through. Don't hurt my sisters or I'll do something mean," he mocked.

Nico's grip visibly tightened on his blade, and his knuckles turned white. The suns positioning put him directly in the shadow of the house. Suddenly, he motioned for everyone to grab his hand, and they melted into the shadows leaving a shocked Edgar behind.

* * *

As soon as they were all back in the shade of camp's trees, Natalie tore her hand away and flopped back onto her back in the grass surrounding the tree trunks. Lizzy followed her lead, rolling over to look at her.

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. I don't really trust you just yet though…"

"Oh! It'd probably help a little if I introduced myself, huh?"

"I guess."

"My name's Elizabeth Jackson. You can call me Lizzy. This is my brother Percy. We're children of Poseidon. Piper here's a daughter of Aphrodite and Leo-"

"The Supersized Mcshizzle," he suggested.

"-is a son of Hephestus. Go to him if you need something built and/or caught on fire. If you need something done right away, Piper can use her charmspeak as long as it's not to terrible, and Percy and I can help with water related stuff. Moving it, dumping it on someone's head, you name it!"

"T-thanks."

"And I guess you already know Nico. Sone of Hades, Mr. Happy Meal-Loving Emo Death Boy!"

"I'm not emo, I don't go to McDonalds at all, and don't call me death boy!"

"Whatever you say Mr. Happy Meal-Loving Emo Death Boy," Leo put in.

Nico glared at them, and the two burst out laughing.

"Come on guys, leave Nico alone," Piper pleaded, obviously surpressing a giggle.

"Whatever. If you promice your… dead serious about this," Lizzy joked.

"Come on! I was gonna use that," Leo complained.

Lizzy smirked and Leo smiled at her. Once again, her heart danced in her chest, annoying her once again. She bit her lip, her facing turning pink. Leo noticed, winking t her, and her face turned even more red than before. Leo chuckled, smiling at her. She shut her eyes tightly, looking away from Leo to enjoy further embaressment.

Piper giggled, and Lizzy's eyes snapped open, and widened even further as she saw Piper's expression. She was wagging her eyebrows up and down and smirking. Her face turned tomato red, and she glared at her friend murderously. Piper giggled, and Lizzy looked away, unsure of what to say next.

"I-I-I-"

"Gods," Piper giggled, "calm down! Please don't freak out!"

She bit her lip again, looking anywhere but at her friends.

"Um, I'm gonna just… go… now?"

"Oh! Sorry Natalie! Nico can show you around, okay? You seem comfortable around him. At least, more comfortable than around any of us," Piper laughed lightly.

Natalie nodded, and Nico led her off to the camp, not touching her hand because of her previous reaction (obviously). Piper wandered off to find Jason and Percy to Annabeth, so it was only Leo and Elizabeth left.

"Could you please stop joking about that sort of stuff," she asked with a red face.

"What, you liking me? Why, is it true?"

"No!"

"Are you suuuure?"

"Positive."

"Are you suuuure you're sure?"

"Yes," she yelled desperately, punching Leo lightly on the arm.

"So you do like me…"

"No!"

He wagged his eyebrows at her and she pushed him over onto the ground.

"Ow!"

"I don't like you like that, okay?"

"Whatever you saaaaaaaay…"

She glared at him, supporting her head on her hand. She had rolled onto her stomach without realizing. Leo had done the same, and their faces were inches apart. She inhaled sharply as he leaned forward slowly, and she closed the gap.


End file.
